Page 6 of A Sorrow of Truths

I rub the chain in my pocket, letting the texture crease and wind through my fingers, as I stare out into the blackness around us and keep walking. “It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t. I won’t be doing.”

“Really.” Not a question. A statement. “You’re not coming tonight then?” he looks over my clothes. “Obviously not. Shame.”

I look at him, eyes narrowed. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing.”

“Malachi, don’t try playing with me out here. I’m not as amenable to it in the real world,” snaps out of me, as I move onwards towards the tunnel.

“Why not? Everyone else is.”

“No one else is. They just don’t know they’re being played with.”

“And you do?”

“Yes. Stop it. Where is she?”

“I don’t know, and even if I did you just said you don’t want to know.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“As good as.”

Accepting that, I nod and keep moving back out into the minimal light grazing around at the other end of the tunnel, mind searching for something to distract me from this conversation. Maybe we could talk about the weather, the financial state of his oil fields, politics, card games, anything, frankly, rather than the one he’s trying for.

“If you did want to see her, I’m sure she’d oblige. She might be there after all.” Oblige? I snort, wondering what she’s become in the time since I saw her last.

“Different, is she?”

“You said you didn’t want to know.”

“I don’t.”

“Liar.”

A low chuckle rumbles through me. I can’t help it. “You’re a pain in my ass, Malachi.”

He smiles and slaps me on the back, as if that’s always been known and shouldn’t be disputed. He’s right. Still, he shouldn’t be here doing this with me, and I shouldn’t be allowing it. Let alone thinking about dragging out information about her.

“How is she?” I ask, moronically.

“Vibrant. Stronger.” Good. I nod and smile, still rubbing the damn chain in my pocket. I can imagine that. I'm happier because of it to some degree. “Stunning.” My gaze goes to his, too much jealousy rising over me because of his acknowledgement of that fact. “Not to mention tenacious.”

“About what?”

“Your truths.”

A sigh drops out of me and I look up at the moon hiding behind the clouds. Tenacious isn’t something I’m ready for. It’s the reason I left, the reason I gave her the space to move on, evolve more, and find something new to distract herself with. “I think you’ve pissed her off.”

“Hmm.”

He turns left and cuts over the grass, stepping out of the light and into the dark plains of nothing. I don’t follow. I wait and watch his form disappearing until he eventually comes back again. “What was that? I ask, bemused.

“Thinking time.” My brow arches in question. “I’m trying to work out if you need helpful hands or not, Gray.”

“You should have just asked. I don’t.”

Idiot.

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